The Slave Trade 01

This KS3 History quiz takes a look at the slave trade. The slave trade was about the buying and selling of humans. Slavery has existed throughout history - almost every ancient civilisation had slaves. Sometimes the slaves were enemies captured in wars, other times it was the least fortunate of their own people. By the 1700s a lot of people were getting very rich from the slave trade.

The modern slave trade seems to have been started by the Portuguese and Spanish. They had conquered and colonised large parts of South America. They carried slaves across the Atlantic Ocean from communities in West Africa, setting them to work in their colonies.

During the 1600s, a few English pirates had joined in the slave trade, making large profits from selling slaves to rich colonists. They ignored the fact that it was inhumane and unfair.

British slave traders made a journey that has become known as the triangle of trade. First they would sail down to West Africa to trade goods for slaves. They would pack as many slaves as they could into their holds and make the middle passage from Africa, across the Atlantic to the Americas. There they would trade the slaves for goods like rum and sugar that they could sell for a profit back in England.

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